Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City Is Way Older Than You Think
03.12.2023 - 16:25
/ screenrant.com
has undergone a lot of changes since its release in December 2020. has evolved into a game known for solid gameplay, an impressive narrative, and an immersive world. Night City, 's setting, has a long history and, like the game itself, has undergone a lot of changes.
is set in an alternate future where paramilitary organizations, megacorporations, depravity, and crime go unchecked. The name Night City reflects that, but according to in-world lore, that wasn't always the city's name. It earned that later, even if the reason it earned that name was nowhere near as dark as the city eventually became.
In the early 1990s, the world began to collapse. War broke out across the globe, and natural disasters occurred much more frequently than ever before. The global economy was manipulated and eventually destroyed in 1994 by a group known as The Gang of Four.
After that meltdown, a businessman named Richard Night stepped in to attempt to control the surrounding chaos. He proposed building a haven, a sort of corporate utopia, that was entirely separated from the collapsing government and society he saw. Investments from three major megacorporations allowed construction of what was then called Coronado City to begin on a nearly abandoned parcel of land on the western coast of California.
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Coronado City thrived for four years, from 1994 to 1998. During those years, Richard Night allowed the megacorporations and other criminal organizations to spend exorbitant amounts of money on construction. He then shut them out for cheaper, independent workers who were not associated at all with the large, powerful groups.
This made Richard Night a target, and in 1998, he was murdered. The culprit is officially unknown. After this tragedy, it did not take long for the city to rename itself on behalf of its benefactor, becoming Night City only four years after its christening as Coronado City. While the urban sprawl was technically named for its founder, the irony is that the city became much darker and more dangerous after that, almost as though it were adapting to its new identity.
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In only seven years, Night City is under governance by underworld factions and gangs. Corruption is rampant, and danger is commonplace. The city has degenerated from a haven from the collapse of the world outside to a black mirror that reflects only the worst parts of humanity.
Arasaka Corporation, among others like Militech International Armaments, decided to take action and began what came to be known as The Mob War in 2009. Rather than being governed and controlled by a corrupt city council of gangsters, the